Tired of brushing your teeth?

If you are a parent yourself, you probably know the daily challenge to get your kids brushing.

Arguments? Crying? Pouting? Refusal?

Not only can this be really annoying and stressful for a parent, it also leads to several other problems: If your kids do not brush regularly, accurately and long enough their bad first teeth will lead to even worse second teeth. This not only affects the overall health but results in huge dental costs.

But brushing and daily oral hygiene is crucial for a healthy life.

Playbrush changes the future of brushing

Brushing is important and with Playbrush it becomes fun!

Playbrush is a smart hardware gadget that transforms your conventional toothbrush into a gaming controller - so you can play fun & interactive mobile games while brushing your teeth.

By gamifying the daily brushing routine Playbrush fosters motivation in children and young-at-hearts. Consequently Playbrush helps to brush regularly, long-enough and more accurately.

Regardless of whether you are a kid or a grown-up, we aim to help you with your daily oral health by making it fun.

Playbrush mentioned in the News!

Awards received by Playbrush!

How it all started!

Being reluctant brushers ourselves, we were inspired by Paul's little godson, who - like most adventurous kids - prefers playing, learning and exploring over the daily brushing routine. Reminded of our childhood, we set forth to finally solve this problem, join the tooth fairy and make brushing teeth fun.

After talking to multiple children, parents, dentists and health experts we came up with Playbrush: A smart hardware gadget, that easily connects to conventional toothbrushes and transforms those into gaming controllers - so kids and young-at-heart grown-ups can play fun & instructional mobile games while brushing their teeth.

Who is it for?

Working closely with families and dentists we have been able to test Playbrush with over 250 kids so far. The valuable feedback not only encouraged us to finally make brushing fun, but also helped us to sharpen our product and build something the kids love.

Kids using Playbrush

We have tested with excited two-year-olds, brushing with their parents, but also reluctant fourteen-year-old teenagers, who enjoyed our games as well. Still, we are currently focusing on 4 to 10 year-olds, and building our first game mainly for them.

Play & Brush

Play & Brush

However, plenty of grown-ups have tested and enjoyed brushing with Playbrush as well.

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Replay with sound

Play with sound

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Matthäus Brushing

Playbrush works for both: kids and young-at-heart grown ups.

A shareable family gadget!

To get the design right we have been working with dentists, families and fantastic industrial designers. We agreed on building a "smart toothbrush add-on" instead of a "smart toothbrush", so families can use it with conventional toothbrushes and the gadget can be shared among brothers and sisters easily.

Playbrush Proprietary Prototype

The gadget is not only working with almost all conventional toothbrushes via its elastic head, it is also safe, waterproof and the material is similar to normal toothbrush material.

Gaming for good!

We strongly believe that playing games fosters intrinsic motivation within children and changes their perception on brushing forever. Instead of perceiving oral hygiene as a "boring" or "annoying" daily routine, gaming can enhance their motivation and consciousness about regular oral hygiene.

Alongside making it fun, we emphasize on regular brushing (2 times a day), brushing duration (2-3 min) and accuracy (brushing in every part of the mouth) via in-game performance.

How does it work?

We are creating both hardware and software. The hardware consists of our sophisticated, kids-friendly cover and the Printed Circuit Board holding the relevant motion sensors.

After testing with hundreds of toothbrushes, we are sure that Playbrush works with almost any toothbrush you can buy. Simply plug your normal toothbrush into our smart hardware gadget and off you go.

Start the app on your phone or tablet and the gadget will automatically connect to it via Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth Smart).

Now you are able to start playing. Via motion sensors and time we determine your brushing behavior and translate it into real-time games - so you can play interactively while brushing your teeth.

First Prototyping!

In July 2014 we created our first Playbrush prototype, by disassembling electric toothbrushes and integrating various sensors. This helped us to analyze brushing behavior based on motion detection.

Initial Prototyping

We soon moved to more specific developer tools, which helped to build our first simple iOS game, using the motion data in real-time. We iterated quickly, applying the principles of rapid prototyping, lean startup and agile development and our product became smaller, prettier and more functional.

Prototypes over time

Combining trends to innovate!

We are leveraging several macro trends and recent technology developments to innovate, build a great product and change the future of brushing.

Gamification - Playbrush is making use of gamification to improve brushing motivation and change oral health behavior in the long-run.

Educational - Playbrush strongly believes in the value of games to teach children about hygiene and create long-lasting habits.

Our Rewards!

Join our journey and make brushing teeth finally fun. Be among the first to get our unique gadget, that transforms your toothbrush into a gaming controller. Leverage your smartphone or tablet as a tool to improve your kids' brushing behavior by using our mobile game.

Your pledges will be used to set up the first production batch of our gadget and deliver it to you. We will also take some time to improve our current game, including brushing feedback, new challenges, different worlds and characters.

Goal: Reaching our £35,000 goal will provide the funding to manufacture and ship the first batch of gadgets and finish the development of our game for iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, iPod touch supporting Bluetooth Low Energy).

Stretch Goal: We want to build Playbrush games for Android as well, but the multitude of devices makes it time-consuming and more expensive. Reaching our £100,000 stretch goal will make Playbrush games available for Android (Bluetooth Low Energy supporting devices) as well.

Toothbrushes for kids in need!

Good brushing and oral hygiene is important - not only for wearing a smile and fighting cavities. It also affects body hygiene, general health and the immune system.

We consider Playbrush not as a lifestyle project - but as an agent of change in the world of oral health. While brushing is fundamentally broken and a lot of kids and grown-ups do not brush regularly, long-enough and accurately, there are millions of kids not being able to brush at all.

To help these kids as well, we are sending a quality toothbrush to a child in need for every gadget sold and every pledge made starting from our £9 pledge.

Our brilliant graphic designer is already supporting a school in Uganda. So we decided to follow her, sending the toothbrushes to the Buhoma Community School close to the Bwindi National Park.

Some of the 400 kids sleep in the school, as their daily commute would be too long, and most of them have regular meals in the school. Providing a continuous supply of toothbrushes will foster good oral hygiene and improve dental health.

Our Roadmap!

Our hardware is working and ready for serial production. While we are considering minor redesigns, the basic product won't change and we have already found some reliable European suppliers to manufacture at scale.

To guarantee the best potential gaming experience we will use the time until November 2015 to finalize our first game. To make brushing & playing even more fun, we will improve our algorithm, provide feedback and add multiple worlds, levels and characters.

We plan to ship the early bird gadgets in November 2015 and the majority of the products before Christmas, in December 2015.

Playbrush Cartoon!

Join our Journey to make brushing finally fun!

Risks and challenges

We will do everything in our power to leave you well looked after and deliver your rewards on-time or early.

For us it is utterly important delivering all pledges in a timely manner, however, as with any product that involves manufacturing and external production, external delays could become an issue. We are working with reliable suppliers in Europe, within easy geographical reach to make sure we control the development process and mitigate production risk.

Even though our entrepreneurial team is quite young, we have developed the product so far ourselves, without any major delay in our schedule. Our core team is supported by experienced entrepreneurs, advisors, engineers and designers.

We will focus on keeping our brushers and supporters always up-to-date about the development and inform them about any changes and potential delays.

Thank you for your understanding and patience - and joining our journey to make brushing finally fun!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £25 or more
About $37

MAKE SOME NOISE - Record a (kids-friendly) noise and we use it in our game. Crashing obstacles, scoring bonus points, earning achievements - anything you like! We will also send a toothbrush to a child in need!

Disclaimer: If the sound is not kids-friendly or useful in our opinion, we will ask you to record a new sound.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £59 or more
About $87

PLAYBRUSH BATHROOM KIT - Get our great gadget and free access to our first game plus our customized bathroom kit with suckers, to keep your devices safe. We will also send a toothbrush to a child in need.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £69 or more
About $102

PLAYBRUSH + T-SHIRT PACKAGE - Get our great gadget and free access to our first game plus our awesome Playbrush T-Shirt (available for kids & grown-ups in all sizes). We will also send a toothbrush to a child in need!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £99 or more
About $147

PLAYBRUSH + HOODIE PACKAGE - Get our great gadget and free access to our first game plus our awesome Playbrush Hoodie (available for kids & grown-ups in all sizes). We will also send a toothbrush to a child in need!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £149 or more
About $221

YOUR DENTAL WORLD + HOODIE - Join our dental fantasy world. You name one Playbrush world in the game and get a limited edition hoodie with the name of your world on it (available for kids & grown-ups in all sizes). We will also send a toothbrush to a child in need!

Disclaimer: If the name is not kids-friendly or useful in our opinion, we will ask you to think about a new name.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £199 or more
About $295

DENTIST PACKAGE - Get five gadgets and be amongst the first dentists to have them. If you would like to participate in the future of Playbrush, here is your chance! Contact us at team@playbrush.io for more information.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £499 or more
About $740

NAME IN THE GAME - Join the tooth fairy and become a character in the dental revolution. You name a main character in the game and get a limited edition gadget including the name on it. We will also send a toothbrush to a child in need!

Disclaimer: If the name is not kids-friendly or useful in our opinion, we will ask you to think about a new name.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £699 or more
About $1,036

NAME THE VILLAIN - Even in our dental world a dark side exists, hindering kids and young-at-hearts from decent oral hygiene. If you are an especially reluctant brusher name the dark master of cavities. You will also get a limited edition gadget with the dark lord´s name on it. Still, we send a toothbrush to a child in need!

Disclaimer: If the name is not kids-friendly or useful in our opinion, we will ask you to think about a new name.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £1,500 or more
About $2,224

ORAL HYGIENE - get a dental appointment & oral hygiene with a renowned dentist in London or Vienna for you and your family (max 4 members). All the attending family members will get a gadget and free access to our first game. We send 4 toothbrushes to kids in need.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £3,000 or more
About $4,447

PLAYBRUSH ACADEMY - we will organize a "brushing & technology" workshop for your institution of choice (pre-school, school, company, etc). We will give away 30 gadgets and free access to our first game for the attendees. We will send 30 toothbrushes to kids in need.